The influence of individual differences in brain rhythms on language and music competency

About the project

The PhD project will aim to answer the question of why some individuals have better speech comprehension skills or are more musical than others. The methodological focus will be on using EEG (electroencephalography) and behavioural experiments, and the associated research fields are Cognitive Neuroscience, Auditory Neuroscience, Systems Neuroscience, and Psychology.

Previous research has overwhelmingly focussed on generic neural mechanisms and has shown that brain rhythms play a crucial role in speech and music perception. “Brain rhythms” (or "neural oscillations") refer to regular neural activity, which is ubiquitous in the brain and involved in many perceptual, cognitive and behavioural processes. I have previously shown that each brain area has its own unique mix of rhythms (Keitel & Gross, 2016). But although every individual is slightly different, individual differences in these brain rhythms and perception processes have been largely neglected. In this project, we will study the role of brain rhythms at the individual level, by comprehensively modelling brain rhythm profiles for each individual. These brain rhythm profiles can then be used to predict speech and music perception and skills, and explain why some people perform better in these areas. The project will adopt such an overarching approach because music and speech perception relies on many of the same basic auditory processes, and these predict literacy and academic success.

Apart from the core research question and the basic methodology, the project is very much open to the interests and skills of the PhD candidate. Depending on the candidate's background, the project can focus more on either technical, social, biological or musical sciences or a combination. Specific experiments will be planned together with the candidate, and they will be part of a very friendly and supportive team.

References

Scientific publication

Keitel, A., & Gross, J. (2016). Individual human brain areas can be identified from their characteristic spectral activation fingerprints. PLoS biology, 14(6), e1002498.

Associated article

Each part of the brain has its own rhythmic ‘fingerprint’ on The Conversation

Diversity statement

Our research community thrives on the diversity of students and staff which helps to make the University of Dundee a UK university of choice for postgraduate research. We welcome applications from all talented individuals and are committed to widening access to those who have the ability and potential to benefit from higher education.